


The Garden of Decaying Flowers

by Theories



Category: Naruto
Genre: Alternate Universe, Angst, Concubines, Dark, Drama & Romance, Forced Abortion, Harems, Historical, Imperialism, M/M, Mpreg, Multi, Murder, Rape/Non-con Elements, Slow Build, War
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-12-23
Updated: 2015-12-23
Packaged: 2018-05-08 14:51:51
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death, Rape/Non-Con, Underage
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,906
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5501786
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Theories/pseuds/Theories
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In Capital of Konoha, ruling center of the Seven Kingdoms, the Chi Dynasty has brought upon the golden era. In this prosperous land where even the poor can become rich, where the trade market is envied throughout the lands and 20 years of peace has reigned, Emperor Itachi rules. </p><p>In the village Hidden in the Leafs, however, life is a struggle. Fourteen-year-old Naruto Uzumaki was just barely scraping by years after the death of his mother. Now, he finds himself entering the Imperial Palace as a concubine. Beneath the glamour and glitz, and the smiles that conceal evil intentions, Naruto finds himself trying to navigate a world where friends can become foes and treachery awaits at every corner.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Garden of Decaying Flowers

**Author's Note:**

> Allow me to give my sincerest apologies beforehand: I have been watching far too many historical dramas (Empress of China, Empress Ki) and they had influenced me to write a story based on it. Before any questions can be asked, let me say this now: I am trying for some form of realism to this story so the characters you once knew and loved will be typically different – the greatest difference being their hair color. Any hair color that isn’t black, brown, or blonde in the Naruto series has been changed to such because I doubt you would have seen pink-haired women back in Ancient China (or I could be wrong, who knows.) Naruto’s and a few others hair colors will remain same (i.e. blonde or red) because they will be of “foreign blood” meaning both parents aren't of Asian descent or from Asia.
> 
> Another thing: There is a ranking system even amongst concubines which goes like this:
> 
>  
> 
> **Imperial Consort Rankings:**
> 
>   * Empress
>   * Imperial Concubine
>   * Madame
>   * Honoured Lady
>   * Xiuhwa
>   * Xiurong
>   * Xiuyi
>   * Jieyu
>   * Ronghwa
>   * Chonghwa
> 

> 
>  
> 
> I will provide more information on the duties of each concubine based on rank as the story progresses, as well as Naruto’s backstory, how the Uchiha family came to be in power and everything in between but until then I hope you enjoy this first chapter. Please show some support by leaving a comment and kudo. Thank you!

**壹**

 

The air is cold, a biting entity that seeps beneath his skin and into the bones. His fingers burn blue at the tips, and to fist them brings about an ache that makes him wince. Around him the land is bare, the towering trees of the forest stripped of their leaves and left skeletal, the earth frozen beneath mounds of snow and the river that is only water source of the village Hidden in the Leafs moves sluggishly downstream. Cupping his hands and bringing them to his dry lips, Naruto Uzumaki blows warm breath over the numbing digits, rubbing his hands together to bring some form of feeling back to them before reaching down to grab the handle of the worn wooden bucket filled to the brim with water.

                The walk back to the village was a quiet one, though that itself wasn’t unusual. During the winter the village always falls silent, as if it was holding its breath; anticipating the arrival of the inevitable along with its people. Even Naruto himself feels worry deep in his stomach, a terrible knot that reminds him that he no longer has the protection of age come time for the new tributes to be chosen. His village, still nestled in the forest and many miles away from the capital of Konoha, is a wretched, despondent place. There were no merchant shops or restaurants, the air smelled of animal and human feces alike, and the homes were hastily put together shacks that trembled when the wind blew to harshly and the rain falls too heavily. The people themselves hold a look of despair, of a battle long fought only to be lost; their skins were caked with layers of dirt and hair a mess of tangles. When they see Naruto their eyes narrow and flash, their lips draw back to reveal yellowed teeth as they hiss, “ _Guàiwù_.”

                He feels his cheek flush with his anger, could taste humiliation on his tongue as he ducks his head to hide behind the curtain of golden tresses. A thousand paces away from the village was his home, a small, but sturdy faded building that held only one window. Climbing up the steps and drawing back the screen door, Naruto steps into his home, breathing in the warm scent of jasmine tea from early morning and slipping out of his animal skin boots before closing the door behind him. The wood floor is cold, but not uncomfortably so because there still a small fire in the stove. Pouring the bucket of water into a clay vase seated in the corner of the one room home and placing the lid back on to it with a hint of a smile, the fourteen-year-old boy makes his way over his bedding. The mattress is thin and stuffed with straw, but it smells very faintly of his mother and even more strongly of Naruto himself. Wrapping himself in the threadbare blankets, Naruto glances out window with frown marring his features.

                Come tomorrow the Emperor’s eunuchs will make their rounds throughout the Capital and all of its bordering cities, towns and villages. From each household they will pick a boy or girl who has come of age, examine their bodies for any deformities and take away those whom they deem worthy of being a _Chonghwa_ to the Emperor. Naruto has seen it happen time and time again, and even Masako, the only person in the village who had shown him kindness after the death of his mother five years before, had been taken to the Imperial Palace to be a _Chonghwa_ three years ago.

                Naruto didn’t want to be chosen; he didn’t want to leave the only home he had ever known to become one of hundreds of concubines for a man he had never seen. But he knew he had not choice; could not escape his fate because for weeks now he had heard the whispers from the villagers. There were no more girls or boys of even pleasant features to give to the Emperor, none who were of age — none except him. He knew that they would offer him to be tribute when the time came, finally ridding themselves of the _monster_ they assumed he was.

                Naruto was by no means a fool; he knew what the others thought of him, what they whispered about when he was and wasn’t around. They called him a _Guàiwù_ because he didn’t look like them. He did not have possess dark eyes and hair, his skin was not ashen and burned brown by the sun. He looked to be of foreign blood — a Western. His hair was a light, golden blonde that pools to his ankles when free, and skin nearly as white as the snow itself. He had always been too small, made of delicate bones that could be snapped under the lightest pressure. Even his facial features, while as soft and pretty as a dolls, were unusual for on either side of his cheeks there were three scars – whiskers that made him freakish. The rest of his features – from his small, button nose to his full lips – came from his mother; but his eyes belonged to the father he never knew.

                His stomach clenches and Naruto tears his eyes away from the closed window, no longer able to stand the thought of what was to come in only a few short hours. Even as he busied himself with gathering fire wood so he didn’t freeze when night came, his mind continues to spin worrying scenarios of what life would become for him if (and when) he was chosen. Would he be forced to bear children? Or would he simply die in the Lotus Palace as a concubine? It was a worrying prospect to mull over, but he continued to do so even after he had finished the last of his rations for that week (bread, cheese and dried pork) and settled himself in for bed.

                Not even for the first time since her death did Naruto wish that his mother was still alive. He missed her smile, her laughter and how tightly she would hold onto him whenever she ventured off to the Capital to trade her old silk garments and jewelry for money; how she would promise him with each trip to always come home. Until one day she didn’t. Those two weeks were the longest and most unbearable time of Naruto’s life. The waiting and the not knowing why she was taking so long, only to find out that she was murdered by bandits on the way back and found by merchants. They had buried her body and returned to Naruto the few possessions she had on her person at the time; her identity tag and the blue crystal necklace that now hangs on Naruto’s neck.

                _But she is dead_ , Naruto thinks as he brings his hands up to wipe away the tears gathered at the corners of his eyes. _And she will always be dead._

                Turning to his side and burrowing himself further into his blankets, Naruto pinches his eyes shut tightly to keep himself from tears; tears, he had long ago learned, did not change anything or even made him feel remotely better. Just tired. Always tired. It would be a long time before he finally managed to fall asleep, and when Naruto finally does it feels as if he had been awoken only a few short minutes later despite the fact that a weak ray of sunlight had managed to peek its way into his home from the window. Naruto doesn’t rise from his bed for some time, opting to remain where he was and wait for his fate to come for him instead of the other way around.

                And come it does.

                Three sharp raps are delivered to the doorframe, and he slowly turns his head to face the screen door that keeps him separate from his destiny. Another series of knocks come before Naruto finally unravels himself from his bed and draws his braided hair back into a bun. When he finally stumbles his way over to the door and slides it open, he is greeted by the sight of a homely looking woman dressed in pale lilac Chang’ao above a plum skirt – the uniform of a concubine caretaker. Her dark hair was braided back in a single loop of a spinster and decorated with golden pins. Besides her stood a group of eunuchs dressed in the traditional dark crimson uniform of a palace servant, and in her hand was a golden scroll.

                “May I help you?” Naruto asked, his voice barely audible with how softly he uttered his words.

                “Naruto Uzumaki,” said the woman with a smile full of teeth. “You are hereby ordered by the Inner Court of his Majesty, Emperor of the Seven Kingdoms, to undergo a physical examination to determine your eligibility as a concubine of rank Chonghwa for his Majesty, Emperor Itachi Uchiha.” She unrolls the scroll and reads aloud: “Should you pass your examination, you Naruto Uzumaki, will be transported to the Capital to live in a waiting house for one fortnight while preparations for your arrival to the Lotus Palace are underway. Congratulations on being elected as a future concubine for his Majesty, and may the Old Gods look upon your favorably.”

                Naruto’s mouth dries quickly, and he grips the edge of the screen door to keep himself from collapsing to his knees. The woman steps away to allow a eunuch with a long scar running across his nose to come forward. He sounds uncomfortable when he asked Naruto to strip, averting his eyes as the young boy did so with trembling fingers. Hot tears burn his vision as the group of eunuchs and the woman stare down at him while the scarred one measures the width of his hips — “His hips are bit slender, but wide enough to bear children,” the woman commented —, his waist and the pinches the soft fat around his nipples into a mound of flesh. His teeth were examined, and every inch of him checked for scars or deformities that would eliminate him as a possible candidate.

                “Those scars on your cheeks,” began the woman in nasally voice, “how did you receive them?”

                “I – I was born with them, My Lady,” Naruto whispered.

                She snorts quietly into her hand. “It must be the foreign blood in your veins,” she said, “such a shame. You are very pretty, beautiful even if not for those scars of yours.”

                In that moment Naruto allows his heart to swell with hope as the eunuch finishes examining his body. His fingers shake with incoming relief as she debates with the eunuchs whether he should pass or fail. _Fail, please, please let them say fail,_ he prays as he redresses.

                “His scars do not disfigure his features, however,” said the scarred eunuch, “rather, I would say, it makes him unique. You will not see another concubine with features such as his in the Lotus Palace for many years, My Lady.”

                The woman stares at Naruto for a moment and he sees the contempt in her eyes, the simmering hatred that steams from jealously and his breath is stolen when she smiles. She had seen in the desperation in his eyes, the hope that fills their depth and she relished in crushing it by saying: “You are right, Iruka. He would make a beautiful concubine.”


End file.
